When it comes to organising your wedding stationary it does take a lot of time to sit down and get it all arranged. There are lots of decisions that need to be made before you can even start looking at all the pretty invites themselves. First and foremost you have to decide your guest list which is a mammoth task in itself but that rant is for another post. Once you have decided who gets a plus one and whether to invite your aunts sisters daughters husband, it’s time to get thinking about the theme for your big day. You want this to be reflected in your invites so your guests are getting a little hint as to what to expect. If you are going for an old school traditional wedding with all the formalities, then a classic invitation style will suit you best, while if you are having a more informal or rustic wedding your invitation choice can be a little bit more quirky and personalised to you as a couple.
I always knew I wanted pink to be the wedding colour scheme for us and Nemanja much to my surprise didn’t need any convincing much to my surprise. My sister told us that the invitation is usually a hint to the wedding guests of what colours to avoid wearing as it usually reflects the bridesmaid dress colour so you can keep that in mind. If you go for a simple black and white design, you can of course have colour on the day, or if you choose an invite design with foliage I don’t think people will be expecting bridesmaid dresses covered in leaf print so you can take the advice loosely. We went for a pink background to indicate our colour scheme while also incorporating foliage to represent the natural outdoor venue style. We used minted.com to order our stationary from as they have a huge selection and you have the option to customise colours, fonts, paper and can also add foil pressed gold, silver or rose gold to your design for an extra cost. You can order samples to see the quality which we did and were blown away. I have posted about the sample package on my Instagram if you want to check it out @heelsandhormones. We actually ordered a bunch of samples a few months ago and had picked an invitation template. When we actually sat down to input all our information and customise it we changed our minds! We ended up picked something different last minute from the website, but we knew the quality and foil pressing was exactly how we wanted from the samples so we had no reservations.
Traditionally wedding invitations should be posted about eight weeks in advance, never usually less than six weeks, so guests can keep their schedules clear. For out of town guests a little more notice of say ten weeks is usually the rule of thumb so bear in mind whether you are inviting guests who will need to make arrangements such as accommodation ahead of time. We have sent our invitations out a whole seven months ahead of time because we are having a destination wedding, so flights and hotels can be booked at reasonable prices. It is important to consider these factors ahead of time, as designing and ordering invites, plus addressing them all can take time.
Most wedding stationery websites will offer the option of matching RSVP cards and other paper ware such as menu cards, which can make things really straight forward as once you have picked your design it can be the same across everything. It is important to have set all of your important information set in stone before putting it on your invitations as this is what guests will refer back to, and you don’t want the stress of people turning up at different times or places if you were to make a last minute change after the invites were sent. Take some time to research what information you want to include, for example if it is a weekend weekend, the itinerary for each day. The basics to include are of course the date, time, venue locations and RSVP instructions, but a lot of people choose to add dress code and day itinerary also. If you have a lot of information to include, a separate information card alongside the invitation can be helpful so the invite itself isn’t too cluttered, or alternatively a wedding website can be the perfect solution.
We went for the latter and made a wedding website to provide our guests with information about travel and accommodation options, weather averages and a section of suggested things to do in the area for those staying a couple of days. Minted.com offers free wedding websites to match your stationary of choice so we created ours through them so everything was cohesive. Our guests will also RSVP to our website and select their menu preference and list any allergies or intolerances. It makes everything so simple for us, as all the information is easily accessible and already compiled, and our guests don’t have to worry if they misplace their paper invitation they can check the website at any time for all information about our big day. I really enjoyed making our website and found it extremely easy to navigate, and I am not the most tech savvy person out there. We added a photo section with our favourites pictures together over the years and did bios of our wedding party so people will have some fun information on how we know each of the bridal and grooms party and fun facts about them. It’s all about fun ways to personalise your website to you as a couple, there are endless ideas of what sections you could include.
We posted our invitations last week and our guests are just starting to receive them now which is so exciting. There is something so nice about receiving post that isn’t another bill! I love getting their reactions to the invitations and seeing everyones excitement building for the wedding. I am so happy we took the time to customise our invitations and sit down together to go through all the details. Making them personalised to us made us so excited thinking about all the fun we are going to have in September. We absolutely love our invitations and can’t wait for all our guests to receive them. Don’t forget to order an extra one for yourself as a keep sake!
Have you picked your invites yet? Post in the comments where you got yours!
Until Next time..
